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Episode 121 - Playfield Cleaning and Waxing

For Amusement Only EM and Bingo Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·14m 32s·analyzed·Jul 10, 2015
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Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.017

TL;DR

Detailed guide to playfield cleaning and waxing for vintage EM and bingo pinball machines.

Summary

Nick Baldridge hosts a detailed technical episode on playfield cleaning and waxing techniques for EM and bingo pinball machines. He discusses various cleaning products (Mill Wax, Novus 2, Wildcat 125, Gojo hand cleaner), waxing methods, and cautions against aggressive techniques like Magic Eraser that can damage original finishes. The episode emphasizes preserving original playfield surfaces while achieving optimal performance through proper maintenance.

Key Claims

  • Magic Eraser with rubbing alcohol cuts through wax, top coat, and can dig into paint/ink, requiring spot clear coating afterward

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining risks of aggressive cleaning methods

  • Mill Wax is a cleaner-wax product sold by Steve Young that works on older machines without detrimental effects

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge discussing preferred cleaning products

  • Novus 2 is better suited for newer playfields with diamond coat finishes, while older machines require gentler products like Mill Wax or Wildcat 125

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge comparing product suitability by machine age

  • Carnauba wax clumps in playfield crevices and amplifies planking/spidering issues on older machines, while Mill Wax performs better for this purpose

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge explaining wax choice considerations for older playfields

  • Playfield cleaning techniques apply consistently across machines from the 1930s-1990s and modern games

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge noting universal applicability of cleaning methods

  • Multiple wax coats provide better longevity than a single application

    high confidence · Nick Baldridge discussing waxing best practices

Notable Quotes

  • “There's no miracle product that I know that's going to do the work for you. It involves actually rubbing and scrubbing and getting it shiny.”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~2:30 — Core philosophy on playfield maintenance — emphasizes labor over products

  • “The original surface is something that is to be preserved and of course it's held up for lo these many years so taking care of that I feel is pretty important”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~4:00 — Preservation ethics — prioritizes original finishes for EM machines

  • “If you go and wax a playfield that has kind of spidering going on or planking, and you use a carnauba wax, you have just amplified the effect of all that because there's little tiny chunks of wax stuck in every single crevice.”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~13:30 — Technical insight into wax choice impact on playfield condition

  • “Once you've done this one time and you get over the fear of taking all that stuff off of the playfield it's something that you're going to want to do. It improves the performance of the game so much.”

    Nick Baldridge @ ~17:00 — Encouragement for new collectors to overcome hesitation about playfield maintenance

Entities

Nick BaldridgepersonSteve YoungpersonSteve SmithpersonFor Amusement OnlyorganizationMill WaxproductNovus 2productWildcat 125productCarnauba WaxproductPinball LifecompanyGojo hand cleanerproduct

Signals

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Comprehensive guide to playfield cleaning hierarchy: soft rags with Mill Wax preferred for older machines; Novus 2/Wildcat 125 as alternatives; Magic Eraser reserved for extreme cases with spot clear coating follow-up

    high · Nick Baldridge detailing specific cleaning product choices and their applications based on machine age and condition

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Distinction between Mill Wax (liquid, non-clumping, better for playfields with planking/spidering) vs. Carnauba Wax (hard, chunky, fills crevices, better for newer machines)

    high · Detailed explanation of wax behavior on different playfield conditions and surfaces

  • ?

    restoration_signal: Philosophy prioritizes preserving original playfield finishes over aggressive restoration; caution against Magic Eraser and automotive clear coats on EM/vintage machines

    high · Multiple warnings about detrimental effects of aggressive techniques on ink and original top coats

  • ?

    product_concern: Mill Wax and Wildcat 125 both noted as having extremely strong/unpleasant odors, which influences user preference despite effectiveness

    high · Nick Baldridge noting Mill Wax 'smells terrible' and mentioning wife's aversion to Mill Wax-soaked rags

  • ?

    gameplay_signal: Clean and properly waxed playfields significantly improve ball roll consistency and game performance; testing involves rolling ball to verify smooth movement and consistent sound

    high · Nick Baldridge describing performance evaluation method and emphasizing improvement from cleaning

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.044

0:00
what's that sound it's for amusement only the em and bingo pinball podcast welcome back to for amusement only this is nick baldridge where we left off in the cleaning of our new machine the top side has been completely stripped and the mechanisms that are preventing proper cleaning have been removed.
0:30
So now what remains is to begin the actual cleaning process. And this can take a few different forms and it depends on how filthy the game actually is.
0:49
You can normally evaluate this based on the condition of the playfield. If there are multiple dirt tracks worn into the playfield, then your cleaning is going to have to be more intensive.
1:04
If there's a huge layer of junk covering the entire playfield, like you got it from a barn, then you've got a bit of work ahead of you and some elbow grease.
1:18
And there's no miracle product that I know that's going to do the work for you. Uh, it involves actually rubbing and scrubbing and, uh, getting it shiny. So, as far as products go, there's a few different ones on the market, and then there's some stuff that's not, uh, strictly pinball related that you can also try.
1:46
I get, uh, asked frequently what to use to clean, uh, playfields. and what I use. And honestly, I try not to get too crazy. And this prevents my games from losing their ink that's been there for years and years and years. Now, some people get really harsh with their play fields and take a magic eraser to them. I will do that in an extreme case, but for the most part, taking the time and applying the appropriate elbow grease will do the work for you without damaging the top coat on your playfield. so I had mentioned a few episodes back that I'm not in favor of automotive clear coat on play fields but the original surface is something that is to be preserved and of course it's held up for lo these many years so taking care of that I feel is is pretty important and when you use magic eraser. You actually wet it with alcohol, rubbing alcohol, a high concentration.
3:16
But what that will do, aside from cutting through the wax that coats it, is cut through that top coat and actually dig into the paint or the ink. And then you need to protect what you done So some spot clear coding is in order Not everyone takes time to do that And so I seen in more than one instance where someone has magic erasered something and their ink has started to wear away. And they don't know what they've done wrong. And so taking alcohol to the playfield surface should be kind of a last resort if nothing else will work.
4:06
So getting to the actual cleaning, what I do is take a soft rag and put either mill wax directly on it. That's a cleaner wax that Steve Young sells. It smells terrible.
4:31
It certainly does the job. It's not perfect, but it doesn't have any detrimental effects even on very old machines. And so I will use that. If the machine is very dirty, I will either use Novus 2 or Wildcat 125, which comes in a bottle. It also smells terrible. However, it is less damaging, certainly, than Novus 2. Novus 2 is great on newer playfields with a diamond coat. They just have a different kind of finish to them, that automotive-style clear coat. and they work more like a plastic.
5:21
But the older machines, you're much closer to the actual wood, and therefore you have to treat them with care. So using either Millwax or Wildcat will do the trick. Now, another tactic, which I have practiced with Steve Smith, is to take some of that Gojo hand cleaner and actually put it on a toothbrush and scrub it around on the playfield. This gives the playfield a good shine, and then you wax over top of it, of course. But I'm not super excited to do that. I haven't seen any detrimental effects, but I would prefer to use some of the products which are made for this purpose specifically. Now, there's a lot of information out there about waxing, and there's a few different schools of thought. Some people will use only caranuba waxes. Some people will use only mill wax. and I like to use kind of a variety and it depends on what I've cleaned the playfield with. Now if I have cleaned with Novus 2 or with Wildcat I'll either wax with Mill Wax or try Caranuba Wax and there's a variety of Caranuba style waxes on the market. They range in quality for this application and I can say that I super happy with the results of any that I tried Caranuba is a very hard wax as it comes from the source which is a plant
7:21
So it's cut with various things in order to make it soft so that you can apply it. And we're not talking about liquid waxes like a mill wax. This is a hard chunk that you put on an applicator and spread on the play field.
7:40
So, looking at what your local auto parts store has is sometimes advisable. I know Pinball Life sells a type of wax called Blitz, which I've never tried, but I hear it's pretty good. on the older games of which is the focus of this podcast I don't tend to like them and that's because of the way that you're closer to the wood so on older games you get issues like planking and the like and that's where the actual ink has split due to changes in the humidity which have caused the wood to swell and shrink over time. Well, what happens when you wax is that that space gets filled in with whatever thing that you're using to wax. So if you go and wax a playfield that has kind of spidering going on or planking, and you use a caranuba wax, you have just amplified the effect of all that because there's little tiny chunks of wax stuck in every single crevice. Using a mill wax is quite a bit better for this purpose because it tends to not clump up in those small areas. now as far as applying the wax I had mentioned an applicator for the caranuba style but for mill wax I'll just use another clean rag and what you do is you put it on the rag you rub it on the machine I use circular motions and when the wax has hazed so it dries on the play field and it will haze up And then you take a microfiber cloth or another clean rag and then you scrub it out using, I use the opposite circular motion. So just like in the Karate Kid, you go one direction with one arm and another direction with the other.
10:06
But the trick is to scrub. I mean, it takes some elbow grease to make the machine shine. Now once you do this, I tend to inspect the surface, roll a ball over it, and see how it performs. If it's moving smoothly and quickly through all areas and you get the same sound of the ball rolling in all areas of the playfield, then I might stop with one coat. However, you will tend to get more longevity out of your waxing if you do it a second or a third time. It doesn take anything but time There so much mill wax that comes in one of those bottles that it take you a really long time to wear through it but there are some people who just absolutely hate mill wax and I can respect that too it is incredibly terribly stinky and my wife for example hates when I have rags that are covered in mill wax so I do try to use the caranuba when I can but it depends, again, on the playfield surface. There are some that I just don't appreciate what it does, so I tend to leave those alone.
11:31
Now, if you've got a playfield that's covered in wax and you need to remove it, any of the cleaners that I mentioned, mill wax, which is both a cleaner and a wax, Novus 2 or Wildcat will in fact take the wax off and cleaning a bingo machine or any other machine is really no different as far as the play field goes even games from the 30s and the 40s all the way up to the 1990s or even today you can use these techniques on all of them once you've done this one time and you get over the fear of taking all that stuff off of the playfield it's something that you're going to want to do. It improves the performance of the game so much that it's something that you will appreciate.
12:35
Refer back to my episodes on pop-upers for rebuilding those because that's something which will also greatly improve the performance. And then we'll get into flippers at a later date on how to rebuild those, unless I've already talked about that, which I'll have to check. But that should do it for playfield cleaning.
13:04
Then you just have to reassemble in reverse of what you did, and you've already got all your polished and clean posts and plastics and flipper bats and all that set aside, your ball arch, everything, your rails.
13:21
So any wooden pieces you want to wax. If you're working on a 30s game with a ramp or something like that, then you would need to wax that as well. Anywhere that the ball travels, you want to wax. and I like to wax the entire surface and that way there's no chance of junk kind of traveling and getting stuck in the wax from other areas it's just a good idea to clean the whole thing so thank you very much for joining me my name again is Nick Baldridge you can reach me at 4amusementonlypodcast.gmail.com or on our voicemail line which is 724-BINGOS1 That's 724-246-4671 You can listen to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Pocketcast via RSS, on Facebook on Twitter at Bingo Podcast You can follow me on Instagram at unbaldridge We have a Google Plus page or you can listen to us on our website which is formusementonly.libsyn.com Thanks very much for listening and I'll talk to you next time.